Saturn and the Princess
by Napoleon Bonerfart
Summary: One-shot. Crystal Tokyo setting. That's the problem when your best friend is a time traveller from the future, what happens when the future catches up with you.


It was a rare sight in Tokyo's crystalline palace. The Soldier of Death and Rebirth walked through the hallways of the palace, everybody around her seemed to give the woman a wide berth out of respect for the incalculably ancient warrior goddess.

Making her way towards the Queen's personal chambers, the guardian goddess shifted the Silence Glaive to her other hand and gently rapped on the door. She stood in front of the door for only a short moment before it opened, inviting the soldier of death inside.

She swiftly walked through the luxurious foyer into the Queen's sitting room, where her sovereign was resting comfortably on a couch, snacking on a bowl of strawberries. The queen was an image of angelic beauty, her long silver-blonde hair was tied back in a pair on buns, with two long streamers of hair flowing down. She was wearing a dress that was pristine white, with a back bow that resembled the wings of a butterfly. The only thing that was seemingly out of place was her stomach sticking out.

"Your majesty." Addressed Lady Saturn, respectfully bowing down towards her queen.

"Ohhh none of that Hotaru-chan!" replied the queen. "We aren't in the throne room, you can just call me Serenity."

"Of course, Serenity." Saturn replied. A small smile creeping up the face of the nearly thousand year old woman.

"What brings you here Hotaru-chan?" Asked Serenity.

"Can't I get out of Titan Castle without having a reason?" Saturn joked. "No, I wanted the see the princess, and I wanted to be here when she arrives?"

"I should have known." Replied Serenity, smiling at the soldier. "You've still got a couple of days before she gets here though."

"I know, but I knew how crazy everything was going to get and…" Saturn trailed off. "Nevermind, it was a silly idea."

"What was, Hotaru?" Serenity asked.

"I wanted to talk to her for a bit, before she got here." Hotaru said.

Serenity simply gave her one of those mysterious smiles of hers, moved over on the couch and motioned for her to sit down next to her. Saturn obliged, kneeling next to the queen's stomach.

"Chibiusa-chan?" She spoke towards the queen's stomach. "I know you can't exactly hear me in there, but–God I feel so stupid doing this–I want you to know that I'll always remember the time we spent together, and how much fun we used to have. It's weird because it was almost a thousand years ago for me–Wow I feel really old all of a sudden–but I guess you don't know it yet, since it hasn't happened yet."

Hotaru took a second to compose herself before continuing. "So hurry up and be born already Chibiusa-chan. I have about a thousand years of catching up to do with you."

Lady Saturn stood back up, smoothed out her dress and bowed to her queen. "Thank you Your Majesty for indulging me."

"It wasn't a problem at all Hotaru-chan. You're welcome here anytime you know, you don't _have_ to spend all your time cooped up in Titan Castle." As Serenity spoke, she suddenly winced and grabbed her stomach. "Oooh, I think Small Lady is happy to see you too." She smiled. "The little brat just kicked me."

Hotaru couldn't help but smile as she walked out of the Queen's sitting room, her best friend hadn't even been born yet, and she was already finding ways to annoy her mom.

—

Saturn's duties kept her away from the crystal palace for years at a time, she had been lucky to make it back to earth to be there for the birth of the princess. Yet her duty had called and she had to go back to Titan Castle far too soon.

—

Lady Saturn stood in the throne room with the rest of the senshi. Time had brought them closer together, even so, the division between the Guardian Senshi and the Outer Warriors still existed.

Hearing the door open, the guardian goddesses turned to watch their queen gracefully walk into the throne room. Right behind her was a small girl who looked to be about four years old with pink hair and red eyes clinging onto her mother's dress for dear life.

Saturn watched as Neo Queen Serenity turned around and knelt in front of the anxious girl.

"Small Lady," The queen spoke. "These are the Outer Guardians of the Solar System, they're all very nice people, just like your aunts."

The little girl walked to each of Saturn's adoptive parents and politely introduced herself, Hotaru was happy to finally have her best friend back. The little princess walked up to Saturn and gave her a polite curtsy.

"Hello, I'm Crown Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity." The young girl introduced herself. "I'm pleased to make your acquan.. aquaint… Nice to meet you."

Hotaru looked into the girl's red eyes and saw a stranger. This wasn't the Chibiusa that she had spent so much time with a thousand years ago, this was the crown princess of the solar system she was sworn to defend. She kicked herself for allow her to get her hopes up like this, _of COURSE it wouldn't be the same, Chibiusa hasn't gone back in time yet,_ the logical side of Hotaru's mind told her. But no matter what she could tell herself, seeing the crown princess look at her like she was a stranger had shaken Hotaru to the core.

The girl looked at her with concerned eyes, scared that this strange lady would hate her because she had stumbled over her words, and like her mother had been a thousand years ago, tears started to well in her eyes.

"Oh," Saturn said, snapping out of her thoughts, "It's very nice to meet you Small Lady. I'm Lady Saturn."

"Are you okay Miss Satu… Miss Lady Saturn Ma'am?" The princess asked.

"I'm sorry Chibiu-Small Lady" Saturn corrected herself. "You just look like an old friend I used to have, and I remembered how much I missed her."

"Oh! Okay!" The little princess beamed a smile at her and went back to her mother's side.

It would be a long time before Saturn would make an appearance at the Crystal Palace.


End file.
